


Once and Future Queen

by platonic_boner



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, F/F, Friendship, Merlin Memory Month, Pre-Relationship, Role Switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 14:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13837062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/platonic_boner/pseuds/platonic_boner
Summary: Morgana is the Once and Future Queen who will unite the land of Albion.





	Once and Future Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Merlin Memory Month prompt "role switch."

“ _Guinevere…Guinevere. Guinevere!_ ”

Gwen hears the call when she’s ten and is in the castle to deliver a newly-forged sword, nearly as big as herself, to one of Uther’s knights. She distractedly pockets the copper coin he gives her as a tip, and then sneaks down towards where the call is coming from. The guards are easy to distract: Gwen rolls her recently-acquired coin down the hallway towards them, the few sweets she could have bought with it sacrificed for the sake of her curiosity.

“How small you are,” the dragon says, “For such a great destiny.”

Gwen crosses her arms. “I’m taller than Elyan, and he’s two years older than me.”

The dragon chortles.

“And what destiny?” Gwen demands.

“Morgana is the Once and Future Queen who will unite the land of Albion. She will face many threats, and without you, she will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion.”

“Who’s Morgana?”

“A girl. A witch. A future queen.”

“What am I supposed to _do_?”

“Follow your destiny,” the dragon says, and flies away.

Gwen’s not sure this was worth the price of the coin, after all.

*

A few months later, Gwen’s in the castle again when she sees a girl her own age thumping her fist on the wall at the end of a hallway in frustration, clearly lost. As Gwen approaches, she notes that the girl’s dress is of a much higher quality than her own. In Gwen’s experience, nobles are rude and snobbish, but that doesn’t change her mind about checking on the girl, who’s wearing mourning black and seems very upset.

“Can I help you?” Gwen asks.

The girl scowls at her, but Gwen doesn’t take it personally since her face is stained with tears.

“The first time I was in the palace, I ended up in king’s council chambers during a secret meeting, and nearly got arrested for spying,” Gwen confides. “It’s easy to get turned around in here. Where are you trying to go?”

By the time Gwen gets the girl to her destination - the dining hall, where the king and eight-year-old Arthur are waiting for her - she’s managed to coax her name (Morgana) and even a small smile out of her. At the entrance, she lets go of Morgana’s arm with a squeeze, and Morgana gives her a slightly larger smile in response. 

The king sits up straighter and watches this exchange sharply, and the back of Gwen’s neck tingles nervously for a few hours afterwards. It doesn’t stop until a messenger arrives at her house and gives her father a letter asking if she’ll be the newly-arrived Lady Morgana’s maid and companion.

Gwen accepts.

*

One of the first thing Gwen finds out in her new job is that Morgana has nightmares. Terrible, vivid nightmares that often have her waking up in terror. Gwen does her best to comfort her, although there’s really not much she can do other than sleeping in Morgana’s chambers more often than not and being her friend.

At least, that’s what Gwen thinks until Arthur takes a blow to the head during his sword training, and Morgana - who was nearby practicing archery - gasps almost before it happens.

“What?” Gwen whispers.

“It’s just - it’s just déjà vu,” Morgana says. “It’s nothing.”

Except it - or something like it - happens again when Morgana knocks a goblet out of Uther’s hand and the liquid that splashes out sizzles evilly on the table, and again when Morgana begs Gwen not to go into town one day, and the shop Gwen was going to visit burns down. The incidents have a year or two in between each, but Gwen takes note of each one.

Gwen hasn’t thought much of her encounter with the dragon, strange and useless as it was, but she remembers what he called her: not just a girl, but also a witch.

Maybe a witch who can see the future?

The day after the shop burns down, Gwen brings Morgana’s breakfast and mentions the fire. Morgana doesn’t look surprised at all. 

“I’m so glad you didn’t go,” she says.

Gwen sits down next to Morgana and takes both of her hands. “Morgana, you know I love you, and I never want anything bad to happen to you,” she says, very carefully.

“And I you. What’s going on?” Morgana asks.

Gwen looks around to make sure the door’s closed and they’re alone. She lowers her voice. “I think your dreams are magical,” she says, barely whispering the last word. “I think you can tell the future.”

Morgana looks terrified and relieved, all at the same time. Gwen is terrified too - they’re two fifteen year old girls talking about magic - about treason - under the king’s roof.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Gwen assures her. “But there’s someone I think you should meet.”

*

The dragon is delighted to greet Morgana, and his agreement that her dreams are magical in nature is simultaneously reassuring and terrifying for them. He offers to teach her how to control them, though, and when Morgana agrees, he beckons her forward. He breathes on her, and when the golden mist of his breath vanishes, Morgana looks calmer and somehow wiser.

Gwen smiles.

*

A few years pass - years full of secret witchcraft that brings Gwen and Morgana closer than ever - and a stranger appears in Camelot and stands up to Arthur. Gwen initially think he’s nice and smart and brave for a servant, but an ordinary servant nonetheless, but then she goes to visit the dragon and finds Merlin already there.

“I’m not - I wasn’t - I just got lost,” Merlin stammers. “Never been here before. Where am I?” 

“Relax,” Gwen says. “I’m not exactly supposed to be here either. Does he have a ‘destiny’, too?” she asks the dragon.

“Merlin is Emrys, a great sorcerer,” the dragon says, over Merlin’s protests.

“I’m not a sorcerer! I don’t know how to do any-” Merlin cuts himself off, looking between the dragon and Gwen’s smile. He sighs. “Fine, I’m a sorcerer. Are you going to turn me in?”

“Of course not!” Gwen says.

“Certainly not,” the dragon agrees. “You will be of great use to Queen Morgana.”

Merlin frowns at that. “Why would _Morgana_ become queen?”

Gwen realizes she’s never asked him that; she just accepted that Morgana was destined for great things. It was obvious just from looking at her. Besides, it wasn’t usually worth it to ask the dragon any questions.

“You will see,” the dragon says, proving Gwen’s point.

“Arthur’s next in line for the throne. Is something bad going to happen to him?” Merlin asks, almost desperately.

He’s only known Arthur for a few weeks, but Gwen’s not surprised by the depth of his concern for Arthur. Not this time. The whole court had watched Merlin drink poison for Arthur, and Gwen had watched everything that happened in the aftermath.

“On the contrary. He will be of great use to the queen.”

“Morgana’s just the king’s ward, not his daughter!” Merlin objects.

The dragon raises his eyebrows. “No?”

“Morgana is Uther’s _daughter_?”

“Indeed.”

Merlin looks at Gwen wide-eyed. “What do we do with _that_?”

Gwen doesn’t know what Merlin will do with it, but she knows what she will. Gwen’s never kept a secret like this from Morgana, and she doesn’t plan to start now.

*

They bring Morgana down so she can hear it straight from the dragon. 

“He’s my _father_?” she asks. “Then why, all this time, has he never told me?”

“Maybe he doesn’t know,” Merlin suggests.

“No,” the dragon says. “Uther is well aware she is his blood, little sorcerer.”

That’s when they hear the gasp from the stairwell.

Merlin and Gwen look at each other in terror, but Morgana stands up straighter and calls out imperiously, “Show yourself!”

Arthur steps out from the shadows.

“Did you know?” Morgana demands. “Did you know you’re my brother?”

“No,” Arthur says. “Can you say the same for knowing my manservant is a sorcerer?”

“Arthur, I can explain,” Merlin says desperately. “I’ve only ever used my magic for good - for you, and Morgana, and Gwen. I was going to tell you, I was just waiting for a good time!”

Arthur takes a step towards him, but Gwen steps between them.

“Would you condemn him for doing everything in his power to defend you, when you would do the same for him?” she asks. “Would you have him killed for something he was born with?”

“You can’t be born with magic!” Arthur says. “It’s learned, through evil rituals and - and things.”

“Uther lied to us, Arthur,” Morgana says softly. “Magic isn’t evil. It’s just a tool that can be used for any purpose, good _or_ bad.”

“I’ve never met a good sorcerer,” Arthur says.

He looks like he regrets saying it as soon as he hears Merlin’s sharp intake of breath.

“Maybe that’s because they’ve all been hunted down,” Morgana says. “The ones who are left are desperate, and don’t have the luxury of being good.”

“Why would Father have hunted them if they were good?” Arthur asks. “Why would he hate magic if it weren’t evil?”

“I am not sure you will like the answer to that, young prince,” the dragon says.

*

They manage to talk Arthur out of his fury in learning the truth of his birth, of his mother’s death, and his father’s Purge. Merlin talks him down from killing Uther, but nobody tries to dissuade him from taking Uther off the throne.

They plan their coup, the four of them, sitting next to a dragon and in the light of Merlin and Morgana’s magic. They plan it right down to the part where Geoffrey has to crown a new ruler, and Arthur says, “And then Morgana will be queen.”

Everyone’s a little surprised.

“You’re willing to give up the throne?” Morgana asks.

“You’re older,” Arthur says. “You’re the heir. Besides, I shouldn’t be… I took part in the Purge. If we’re to bring Camelot peace, to bring magic back… I can’t be king. It has to be you.”

“It is destiny,” says the dragon.

*

Gwen claps the loudest when Morgana is crowned, but Merlin and Arthur are a close second. Morgana steps down off the dais and comes over to them.

Gwen curtsies. After a moment, Merlin and Arthur bow. Arthur looks a little peeved about it, as any younger sibling bowing to their older sister should.

“Stop it, all of you,” Morgana says, laughing. “I had a good dream last night.”

“Ugh,” Merlin says, and Morgana flicks him.

“We were all old,” she continues. She looks pointedly at Arthur. “Some of us were fat.”

Merlin snorts, and Gwen chides, “Morgana!” even though she can’t quite keep in her smile.

“Merlin was court sorcerer, Arthur was commander of the army, and Camelot had never been more prosperous, nor its citizens more content,” Morgana says. “Do you think we can manage it?”

“I think we can do anything,” Arthur says.

Gwen links her arm through Morgana’s. “What about me? Where was I, in your dream?”

Morgana looks up at the dais where the throne sits. “Where do you think?” she asks. “Beside me.”


End file.
